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Games today:
(Araneta Coliseum)
5 p.m.- Burger King vs. Rain or Shine
7:30 p.m.- Ginebra vs. San Miguel
Siot Tanquingcen was a trusted lieutenant of Jong Uichico when the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings shamed the San Miguel Beermen in the 2006-07 Philippine Cup Finals.
But from being an ally, Tanquingcen is now one of the biggest thorns when Uichico and the Kings try to duplicate that feat.
Dubbed the 'Sister Act IV', the best-of-seven Finals of the 34th PBA Fiesta Conference starts today with the defending champion Ginebra colliding with sister-team San Miguel in Game One of what could be an explosive championship showdown between the most popular teams in the league.
Tip off is set at 7:30 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum.
Tanquincen, the youthful San Miguel mentor, said he has been looking forward to his battle with coach Jong Uichico.
"This is something new because I'm up with coach Jong for the first time in the finals. Magkasama kami sa Ginebra bench in the last Ginebra-SMB finals (in the 2006-07 Philippine Cup)," said Tanquingcen.
"Siguradong pagiisipin ako ng husto ni coach Jong," added Tanquingcen, who is gunning for a third championship.
“You always feel good every time you reach the finals. But our work doesn’t stop here. Winning the championship will be our toughest challenge,” said Uichico, who is in his 12th appearance in the Finals as head coach and third with the Kings.
The soft-spoken Uichico already has nine titles tucked under his belt. Ironically, most of them were won when he was the coach of the Beermen.
Advancing to the Finals came as no surprise for San Miguel and Ginebra, who actually finished one and two after the elimination round.
The two squads, however, reached the top in contrasting ways.
While San Miguel racked up successive wins to immediately wrest control of the standings, Ginebra started the conference on a shaky note.
The Kings kicked off their campaign with five straight losses and was forced to replace the explosive import Rod Nealy.
Ginebra brought in David Noel and the Kings caught fire and fashioned out a conference-best seven-game winning streak in the middle part of the tournament.
In the semifinals, the San Miguel faced the Burger King Whoppers while Ginebra clashed with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
Living up to their lofty billings, San Miguel and Ginebra allowed their respective opponents to score just two wins as both finished off their Final Four round foes in in six games.
The Beermen are 2-1 against the Kings in their previous title clashes, winning the first two—1989 Reinforced Conference and 2001 All-Filipino Cup.
The Kings exacted some amount of revenge when they defeated the Beermen in the 2006-09 Philippine Cup Finals.
San Miguel was then coached by Chot Reyes. When Reyes was tapped to coach the national team, Tanquingcen was pulled out from his assistant coaching job in Ginebra and was installed as the Beermen's main tactician.
"It's gonna be an exciting series. It's something different from our battle with Burger King. The key is gonna be guys being free from any injuries," Tanquingcen told pba.ph.
"People have been saying our players are talented... more talented than the other teams. But talent doesn't mean a thing if we don't work together. Basketball is a game of five. I'm not saying lamang kami but I'm not also saying dehado kami," Tanquingcen added.
